Will Work for Camping Space

by Dr. Bill Thomas

Retirement — what we think of when we say the word, “retirement” —  isn’t what it used to be. In some ways that is very good news — who wants  a gold watch and a rocking chair?

Retirees Trade Work for Rent at Cash-Poor Parks:

An itinerant, footloose army of available and willing retirees in their 60s and 70s is marching through the American outback, looking to stretch retirement dollars by volunteering to work in parks, campgrounds and wildlife sanctuaries, usually in exchange for camping space.

Park and wildlife agencies say that retired volunteers have in turn become all the more crucial as budget cuts and new demands have made it harder to keep parks open.

Work-campers come together in one place — leading nature walks or staffing visitor centers, typically working 20 hours to 30 hours a week — then take off to their next assignments. As they move about, they keep in touch with one another through cellphone numbers, e-mail addresses and Facebook postings, creating virtual communities filled with the people they meet.

Although this story puts a positive spin on a new kind of old age,  I can’t help but be troubled by what lies beneath.  Over the past several decades, the notion of the common good has been deliberately weakened in order to justify damaging cutbacks to what was once a wonder of the world — the American system of public parks.

Let’s take a closer look… “retired volunteers have in turn become all the more crucial as budget cuts and new demands have made it harder to keep parks open.” The problem here is that the wealthy don’t want, or need public parks and they certainly do not want to pay taxes in order to maintain such places for the use of others.

They have their own, private, parks.

This is a case which highlights the adaptive use of “social capital” held by the older volunteers. They are making up for (but not replacing entirely) the vacancies created by recent budget cuts.  It is not surprising that these volunteers are making ready use of social media:

“As they move about, they keep in touch with one another through cellphone numbers, e-mail addresses and Facebook postings, creating virtual communities filled with the people they meet.”

There is a new old age in the making.